My first born 🥰🥰

Let me start with a confession.

When my sister was born, I was not impressed.

Not even remotely.

I had been waiting for a baby brother. In my little head, I had already imagined all the fun of having a younger brother.

And then came the big announcement: It was a girl.

My response?

“Please throw her in the dustbin.”

Yes. That was my first reaction to the person who would eventually become one of the biggest loves of my life. 😂

Honestly, if someone had told that little girl that one day she would write an entire piece about this baby and call her “my first born,” she would have probably laughed.

But life has a wonderful sense of humour.

Because that tiny baby I didn't even want turned out to be exactly the person I didn't know I needed.

She came into my life eight years after me, and for the longest time, our age gap felt enormous. I was the elder sister who thought she knew everything, and she was the little sister who seemed determined to challenge that belief at every possible opportunity.

And then began our childhood.

We fought.

Oh, how we fought.

Over toys. Over things that didn't matter. Over things that mattered even less. Sometimes we probably didn't even remember what the fight was about—we just knew we were supposed to be angry with each other.

Anyone watching us back then would probably have said, “These two will never become a pair.”

And honestly?

We probably wouldn't have disagreed.

But growing up has a funny way of rewriting the stories we once thought we understood.

Today, when I look back at those years, I don't see the fights anymore.

I see our learning years.

We were learning how to love someone who was different from us.

Learning patience.

Learning forgiveness.

Learning that you can be furious with someone one minute and still want to sit next to them the next.

Maybe those years were preparing us for the bond we have today.

Because a strong bond isn't one where you never fight.

It is one where, despite every fight, every difference and every distance, you still find your way back to each other.

And strangely, I think I understood how much she meant to me when we were apart.

Distance has a way of making you notice the things you once took for granted.

I missed her.

I missed her voice, her presence, her opinions, her little habits—and, surprisingly, even her unsolicited advice.

Because somewhere along the way, my little sister had become my Dadi Maa.

She worries about me.

She lectures me.

She gives me advice.

She tells me what I should and shouldn't do.

Sometimes I genuinely wonder who is the elder sister.

And today, as I watch her stand at the beginning of a new phase of her life, I look at her and feel something much bigger than nostalgia.

I feel proud.

Proud of the little girl I watched grow up.

Proud of the woman she has become.

Proud that I get to call her my sister.

So, my Kandumuni, as you step into this new chapter, I want you to remember one thing:

My doors will always be open for you.

No matter where life takes you.

No matter how far you go.

No matter how much life changes us.

You will always have a home in my heart.

You will always have someone to come back to.

And yes, you will always be my little sister.

But there is another name I want to give you.

My first born.

You weren't born out of me.

But you were born out of my heart.

You were the first person I learned to love without really understanding what love was.

The first person I learned to protect.

The first person I learned to miss.

The first person who taught me that someone can be eight years younger than you and still somehow become your teacher, your confidante, your Dadi Maa—and your little girl, all at once.

When you were born, I wanted a brother.

Today, if I were given the choice all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

Because now I understand something my younger self never could:

God didn't give me the sibling I asked for.

He gave me the person my heart needed.

So go, my Kandumuni.

Step into your new chapter.

Dream loudly. Live fully. Become everything you are meant to become.

And whenever you need a place to come back to, remember—

my doors are always open.

Because no matter how much life changes,

no matter how far you go,

and no matter how grown-up you become...

you will always be my first born. ❤️